


A Night Out

by thisislegit



Category: One Piece
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Time Skip, ZoSan Month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 16:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11130855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisislegit/pseuds/thisislegit
Summary: Zoro's seen fireflies before, Sanji, however, has not.





	A Night Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkChibiShadow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkChibiShadow/gifts).



> a request from DarkChibiShadow for ZoSan month, im hoping this is what you're looking for, i love your art so I have an idea of your taste but we'll see if i hit it off or not, happy birthday dude

Zoro didn’t understand why he needed a baby-sitter. Sure, he got turned around on occasion, but he always found his way back on his own. Most of the time. Usually. The point is, he could handle himself, and he wouldn’t mind having company as he explored this new island if it weren’t for one thing.

“LADIES!” Sanji twirled toward a group of young women all chatting amicably outside a bar.

The thing was him. Why the shitty cook failed to keep his head on his shoulders when a woman so much as breathed in his direction wasn’t a mystery to Zoro. It was just irritating. Zoro took 10 steps, maybe 20, and Sanji was off again to talk to another woman. He tried ditching the cook only for Sanji to catch up and berate him for trying to get lost. How was Zoro supposed to have his own adventure on the island if walking a couple hundred feet from the docks took 15 minutes instead of 2? He wrinkled his nose as the stench of tobacco smoke intensified. Sanji seems to have calmed down as he walked beside Zoro with a burning cigarette hanging from his lips. Zoro spared him a glance. A short glance. Any longer than a few seconds would spur a fight. Or worse, a conversation.

The island they landed on wasn’t very big, but the town was super modern and compact. Instead of building out, the villagers built up with tall towers that bore balconies for people who resided in them to look over, drape their laundry on, or have parties in. Alleys were narrow enough for one person to squeeze through and trashcans were sparse. There were a few cleaners with robotic looking dogs on leashes that would eat any stray garbage, so the stone paved roads stayed clean.

“Kind of weird, isn’t it?” Sanji said as he watched an old couple walk by them.

“What?”

“I haven’t seen a single kid since we docked.”

That was true. There weren’t any children here. Zoro hadn’t even seen a single baby, but he wondered if there was something Sanji caught that he missed, so he said, “It’s late.”

The streetlamps stood tall, the gaslights lit with their glass and iron casing, on the edges of the sidewalk. Despite the darkness, the cities light pollution kept the stars hidden from sight.

“Did a lack of sunshine stop you when you were a kid?”

“No. Do you think the people here don’t give birth?” Zoro adjusted the swords on his hip to have something to do with his hands.

“How would they keep this place populated then? They’d have to force any travelers to stay here, and even then.”

“Maybe they come out the womb as teens.”

Sanji raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Or they hatch from eggs. Like, weird, giant eggs with fully formed people inside.”

Sanji snorted, smiling as he took a puff of his cigarette. Making eye contact with a stranger who winked at him, Zoro stopped messing with the tie on his swords and shoved his hands into his pockets. What was up with this place? Sanji started laughing to himself, his shoulders pulled inward like he was trying to stop the giggles from getting louder.

“Something funny?” Zoro asked.

“Just imagined what the people eggs would look like.”

“Yeah? What do they look like?”

“Well, for starters,” Sanji turned to Zoro with a smug smile, “They’re green.”

Zoro glared at the cook, his cheeks growing warm. “Asshole.”

“Wait, I’m not done. They’re also translucent. See-through just enough to see the shape, but not enough that you’re able to make out the features.”

“You’ve been hanging around Robin too much.”

“No such thing. Robin-chwan is an angel whose presence I’m blessed to be graced with.”

Oh god, here he goes. Zoro tuned him out by taking in more of his surroundings. The glimpse of a strawhat gave him hope for switching his island partner, but the wearer of the hat ended up being an older woman. Eyeing an alleyway, Zoro weighed his options. The two were several street lamps away from getting to an area of town where the light from the parties and buildings touched everything. On the left about to walk by them in thirty seconds was a vivacious blue haired woman and her smaller but equally pretty friend, and the alleyways were narrow enough to fit one person through. His plan formed on it's own. Sanji would take his eyes off Zoro for about one minute to fawn over the girls giving Zoro enough time to duck into an alley, hide behind a few trashcans, and send Sanji the wrong way to look for him.

All he needed to do was not make any noise after getting into the alley. Simple. The girls were getting closer, and Zoro picked the narrow passage he’d slip through. Any second now. His heart sped up a bit in anticipation when the girls got into Sanji’s love cook radius. The cook was going to twirl over to them right now.

......

Right now.

Now?

Any second now.

The girls were close. Entirely within eyesight. There's no way Sanji didn't notice them. He was going to start swooning over them right now. The cook would-. Sanji blew a ring of smoke up in the air as the girls passed by them so he wouldn’t end up blowing smoke into their faces.

He ignored them? Zoro stopped walking. Sanji made it a few more steps before stopping to turn and look at him with question, and he shouldn’t be giving Zoro that look. Zoro was the one with questions, but he kept his mouth shut and started walking again. The sidewalk narrowed as it went uphill forcing Zoro and Sanji to get closer since he’d be damned walking in the road. Rainwater from earlier that day flowed down the edges of the street into sewer grates, and he didn’t want to borrow more from the sea witch to get his boots primed. Leather was durable but expensive to replace, and he wanted to make this pair last as long as possible.

“Lovely Abigail told me there’s a really cool place at the top of this hill.”

Abigail? Must be one of the girls the cook was harassing earlier. Zoro nodded keeping his gaze forward. He didn’t glance over until the feeling of eyes staring at him made him do so, but Sanji’s gaze was focused on the path in front of them. And the only thing next to Sanji was a yellowed, tall building with an egg-shaped door. He must be paranoid, but the pink dotting the tips of Sanji’s ears told him otherwise. Was Sanji-? No way. Zoro closed his eyes and berated himself. If he entertained ideas like that, he’d be caught in a downward spiral of what ifs. He wasn’t about to let a tiny crush turn into something he’d have to fess up to.

At the top of the hill was something like a town square. Even though it was late, there were a lot of people bustling about. In the middle of the cobbled street center was a large fountain surrounded by giggling children with nets and jars. Found the kids. Some were with parents, and some were alone. There were also couples of varied types, and a few food vendors with their carts parked in different spots so as not to stir up a rivalry. The fountain itself was aged white marble, with three tiers. Atop the third, highest tier was the statue of an angel holding a water basin. The fountain was made so it looked as though a never-ending flow of water came from the basin to fill the two lower tiers. The second tier bore images of people holding up bowls like they were catching the water, and the last tier on the ground was flat and wide enough for people to sit or lay across. The lights around the square were sparse and dim allowing for the moonlight to illuminate the area. The stars were remained hidden, but Zoro didn’t feel like he’d get a headache from all the glaring yellow below the hill.

“Check that out.” Sanji pointed past the fountain.

Behind the structure were smaller more quaint looking buildings made from clay and stone. None of them went higher than one floor, and they blended in with the tree line.

“It’s like two different towns.”

“Seems like people have their party time near the docks, and settle down with families over there. The fountain is the center. A unity of two different worlds.”

“Well, aren’t you poetic.”

Dropping what was left of his cigarette, Sanji crushed it under his shoe. “One of us has to be.”

The cook looked like he was about to grab another cigarette when he flinched. Zoro watched him swerve and jump out of the way of something. He started waving his hands trying to get the object away, and Zoro barely kept himself from laughing while he tried to figure out what the idiot was swinging at.

Something lit up by his face.

Then it lit up again.

More lights glowed and faded at different intervals, and it wasn’t until Sanji had jumped behind Zoro that he realized they were fireflies.

“What the fuck are these?” Sanji’s eyes were wide with panic, but there was a sneer on his face.

“You’ve never seen fireflies before?”

“These things are on fire?”

Zoro couldn’t hold back anymore. He laughed. He laughed right in Sanji’s stupid face. Sanji took aversion to that, and Zoro was blocking the kicks aimed his way while he laughed. Sanji reaction to one of the most harmless bugs in the world like it was going to sting him to death was priceless. He wished Usopp was here to take a few pictures of that. Sanji stopped trying to kick his head in before a crowd drew around them. Wouldn’t want a skirmish with the authorities ending their night early. Zoro managed to get his laughter down to chuckles while Sanji stood opposite of him with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

“Glad you’re so amused by this,” Sanji said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “These things don’t exactly fly over the ocean.”

“If they did they’d die, and they’re fireflies. Sometimes, they’re called lightning bugs. They can light their butts up to get a girlfriend, or to get dinner. Depends on the pattern.”

“Like morse code.”

Zoro grunted in affirmation and held his hands out with his palms cupped.

“What’re you doing?”

“Just watch,” Zoro said.

A firefly flew close, it’s light growing bright before dimming to nothing. He waited for the insect to fly near the tips of his fingers before cupping both palms around it to trap it. Smiling, he moved his thumbs so he could peek inside. The firefly was crawling along the inside of his palm, it’s light still growing and dimming in the same slow pattern.

“Want to see it?”

Sanji grimaced, but stepped closer to Zoro and leaned down to see the contents of his cupped hands. “If this thing spits something at me I swear to god.”

“Shut up and look at it.”

Zoro watched the grimace on Sanji’s face fade to indifference and then awe. The glow from the firefly lit up the blue in Sanji’s eye, and his thin lips were slightly open. Zoro swallowed against the dryness in his throat and opened his cupped hands, so the cook could see it better. He watched Sanji reach out as if he were to touch it only to change his mind and pull his hand back. Zoro shoved any bad feeling he might've had back down into the pit where it belonged because of course Sanji wouldn't touch _his hand_ _with a bug in it_. Sanji straightened up as the firefly crawled to the edge of Zoro’s finger and took flight.

“Never thought I’d think a bug was cool.” Sanji tilted his head.

“There’s probably cooler ones on the grand line.”

“Nope. I’ve met my quota for life. Any other bug needs to stay the hell away from me.”

Nodding, Zoro made his way over to the fountain. Maybe he could grab some change from the water and get a drink with it. There was a quick question of where he was going from Sanji that he waved off. He could ditch Sanji in this crowd if he wanted, but the itch to venture on his own had passed. His lone wolf schtick was more out of habit than desire now that there was a whole group of people he lived with. He yawned and chose a spot on the fountain that hadn’t been splashed with water as the crowd in the square grew thick. Sanji stood where Zoro left him, his head darting from Zoro to some spot on the left before he seemed to make up his mind and walk off. Zoro’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. Or was that relief? It was hard to tell when dealing with Sanji. The water of the lowest pool was clear, and not one beri sat at the bottom. Damn it.

A few minutes passed of Zoro listening to the sound of running water and muted conversation. There were splashes growing louder behind him, and he glanced back to make sure he wasn’t about to be pelted with water. Turns out a toddler had jumped into the fountain and was giggling as their concerned mother pulled her out.

So when an ice cream cone was shoved in his face, startling him, he was surprised to see the owner of the proverbial offering was a bored Sanji. The cook waved the cone, almost letting it drop before Zoro snatched it. Two small scoops of vanilla sat in the waffle cone, and Zoro licked a drop that threated to fall onto his hand. He then did a double take.

“This isn’t vanilla.”

Sanji sat down next to him with his own cone that had two small scoops of a red sorbet. “Wine ice cream. It’s a novelty here.”

He hummed focusing more on the taste of his ice cream. The liquor was good, and there was the taste of peach. It also wasn’t too sweet. Fireflies continued to float by them sometimes lighting up the color of Zoro’s ice cream, and other times landing on one of his fingers for a breather before going off into the night.

“Pretty, huh.” Zoro didn’t expect a reply. The silence between them was comfortable. No underlying tension, no push or pull. It was rare when Sanji and Zoro could be in the same spot by themselves and just be.

The feeling of eyes on him returned, and Zoro licked his lips. A small choking noise followed making him squint. Zoro turned in time to see the back of Sanji’s head. The back of his neck was pink. He was wrong earlier. Sanji definitely was, he was, this was somewhat planned, maybe? He hoped it was planned. If this was planned, Sanji was sure as hell being skittish about it. Zoro bit the inside of his cheek. There was one way he could find out. Moving his free hand from his lap, Zoro let it rest next to his leg on the fountain with his palm down. He knew when to play dumb. Instead of looking at Sanji, he watched the fireflies, taking a bite out of one of his ice cream scoops.

A second or two passed before the bump of a hand touched his. Another second went by when Sanji’s hand covered his. Feeling bold, Zoro turned his hand under Sanji’s and laced their fingers together. There was a large flash of light from the corner of his eye and cursing from Sanji who’d dropped his cone onto the ground. He stomped on the ice cream which had caught fire, and Zoro wondered why he didn’t drop it in the fountain.

Sanji was breathing heavy, red-faced, and eyes wide with panic or embarrassment. It could go either way from how he refused to look at Zoro after that display. Oh yeah, Sanji was into him.

Zoro didn’t scoot to sit closer because he didn’t want to spook the cook, but he did hold what was left of his ice cream out. “Take some. It’s too sweet anyway.”

“Yeah right.” Sanji’s breathing calmed even if his face got redder. “I know that flavor has the least amount of sugar in it. Made sure it was just your taste.”

Zoro smiled at him, making the appraising look he gave Sanji obvious before squeezing his hand and saying, “Yeah. Exactly my taste.”

**Author's Note:**

> and then sanji burst into flames because zoro is CLEARLY trying to MURDER him :3c
> 
> this is the only request ive gotten, but im taking more zosan fic requests or trades on my tumblr possessionisamyth.tumblr.com so if u want a story or have an idea hmu


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